Movie Review: Contagion
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
When the medical thriller movie Contagion came out in 2011, it was widely praised for its realistic portrayal of a global pandemic scenario. In recent weeks, as the real-life outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world, there’s been a surge of renewed interest in the film.
Review: Living in the Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Kunstler’s latest book is a welcome nonfiction follow-up to The Long Emergency titled Living in the Long Emergency. It profiles a handful of remarkable people from across America whose lifestyles embody what Kunstler refers to as “heroic adaptation.”
The Earthing Movie (Documentary Film Review)
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Immersion in nature has a wide range of human health benefits. It has been found to do amazing things for our mood as well as our nervous, endocrine and immune systems. But as with anything, it's important to bring a critical eye to claims made about nature's healing powers, as some of these claims have been known to stray into the absurd.
Plastic Planet (documentary film review)
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Of all the documentaries that have been made about the dangers of plastic, the one that has stuck with me the most is Plastic Planet. It’s my favorite for numerous reasons, the first of which is the breadth of its scope.
DisemPOWERed (Documentary Film Review)
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
The difference between Casa Pueblo's shining example and the bleak energy reality faced by Puerto Ricans at large is the main lament of the documentary DisemPOWERed. Written and produced by anthropology and Latin American studies professor Sandy Smith-Nonini, this indie film is a meticulously researched, densely informative—yet accessible—exposé of Puerto Rico’s economic, political and energy woes.
Chasing Coral (Documentary Film Review)
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
By raising sea temperatures, climate change is eradicating the world’s coral. Because coral reefs provide sustenance and protection to vast numbers of humans and marine organisms, it would be a big deal for them to go extinct. The El Niño that lasted from 2014 to 2017 caused a global-scale mass coral bleaching event of unprecedented severity, which damaged a majority of coral reefs around the world. The makers of Chasing Coral managed to document this calamity.
Review: Growth by Vaclav Smil
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Vaclav Smil's latest book explores growth in nature and society. It examines the rules and patterns of growth in four key domains, those of the living world; human energy consumption; human artifacts; and human populations, societies and economies.
Review: Downwind by Sarah Alisabeth Fox
By Frank Kaminski, Mud City Press
Downwind manages the triple feat of being at once a rigorous piece of scholarship, a moving account of a dark and ongoing period in human history and an exquisitely accomplished first book.